“He was the manager who brought me here and opened the door to Europe. He gave me a lot of opportunities to live the dream.

“We all knew there was going to be a transition (at United). You cannot have a manager for 26 years – the best manager in history, achieving everything, changing the squad every couple of years, changing players, even all the staff sometimes – there was always going to be a transition.

“The change of Sir Alex retiring, we knew it was going to be very difficult. He was unique in the history of football,” he said.